Who is this moment?
When the ego is dead, a new kind of life begins. This is why it is said that when you see the true nature of yourself, there is no way that you can live your life in the old way. It may take a long time to actualize it, but once you see it, it is like an itch that needs to be attended to. Once we see what is real, it's very difficult to hide from reality. Before we see it, we can plead ignorance and kind of bungle along, deluding ourselves about our existence. We can blame it on our parents or the president or any number of people, places, and things in order to avoid our responsibility. We can always be a victim, like the unfortunate soul caught in the "winds of circumstances." When you realize yourself, all of that self-deception is ended because you find out who is really responsible. It is you. You are the responsible party. There is no one else, nothing else. There is nothing to be found outside yourself. At first, it is an awesome realization to be responsible, to have no one to blame anymore. It sounds silly if you try and say, "He made me angry," or "He made me do it," or "It's her fault." It sounds ridiculous, once you have realized yourself, to make the statement "I'm just a victim of circumstances." You realize that you are the circumstances, that you create what you experience, that what you do and what happens to you are identical. You realize that cause and effect are immediate and instantaneous; cause doesn't precede effect, nor does effect follow cause. If you want to know the past, look at this moment. If you want to know the future, look at this moment. This moment is the future and the past. Where will you find this moment? Who is this moment? What is this moment?
- Mountain Records of Zen Talks by John Daido Loori
No comments:
Post a Comment